Dragons in Paradise (Plus)

George Sibley's 2004 book of essays about learning to live in a small mountain valley in the central Colorado Rockies quickly became a classic, twice reprinted. Now he's back with a second edition that expands on the first with several new essays from the decade since 2004. He explores topics that are insightful for those who think they want to escape the busyness of their contemporary lives to find peace and tranquility in a mountain valley. Sibley asks, is "living a simple life" even possible (or responsible) these days? He explores the difference between "place" and "property" and wonders if it is heresy for a Historical District to recycle the past to create the future. Sibley considers his own evolution from "ski bum" to a member of a community's "economic development" committee and recounts how he came to admire a man he termed "a hardbitten, self-proclaimed hippie-hating anti-environmentalist." He writes: "I came to the mountains to ski, but somewhere along the line, the mountains came to me."